Building on the somewhat limited side-by-side multitasking already available to iPad users is the goal of a new concept video. Its creator proposes enabling three applications to be open simultaneously, and includes a simple method for swapping between more.
iPad users have been able to easily work with two applications on screen for several years. But Split View is currently limited to a pair, with a third that can slide in over on top of one of them.
Daniel Korpai’s “Pro Multitasking – Finder for iPad Concept” brings that number up to three apps on the screen at the same time. And he’d keep the slide-over option, allowing a fourth app to appear temporarily.
He also suggests having even more open applications available off the left-and-right edges of the display. A three-finger gesture would allow the user to side back and forth to control which are onscreen at any given time.
Bigger is better… for iPad split-screen multitasking
If you’ll pardon the pun, the biggest beneficiaries of improvements to side-by-side multitasking are those with the 12.9-inch iPad Pro. This large tablet is best suited to displaying three applications at once in a usable manner. But users of the 11-inch iPad Pro and 10.5-inch iPad should see the advantages as well.
Users of the 9.7-inch models would likely find little use for this proposed feature, and that is even more true for the iPad mini.
Maybe in OS 13?
Apple seems to have a habit of focusing even-numbered iOS versions on the iPhone, while odd-numbered ones primarily benefit tablets. With iOS 13 coming this fall, iPad users are already anticipating big improvements.
Increasing the number of apps that can be displayed at once is possibility, but information leaking out of Apple indicates that enabling applications to open more than one window has a higher priority. This would, for example, allow two Word documents to appear side-by-side.
